Redemption of Thorns
Musings from the Garden
By Peggy Wyar
The celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection is at the end of this month. Knowing that Jesus came to earth because of man’s need for a Savior, I took time to look at the story of man’s fall in the Garden of Eden found in Genesis, chapter three. I read that the serpent was crafty and cunning. He knew the words to use to entice Eve to look at the forbidden tree with desire. Once she saw that the good-looking fruit was also good for food, she reached out her hand and picked it for herself and Adam. Their eyes were opened, and they were ashamed.
The Lord God confronted them. He cursed the serpent and the ground. Adam and Eve were told the consequences of their sin. Then God ushered them out of the Garden so they would not eat the fruit from the Tree of Life and be eternally separated from Him in their sinful state. How merciful is our Lord!
When God pronounced the curse on the ground in Genesis 3:8, He said, “It will produce thorns and thistles for you…”
Have you ever considered that when Jesus was crowned with the crown of thorns by the soldiers just before His crucifixion, it might have been pointing to an atonement for the curse of the ground? Jesus offered Himself to redeem mankind from the effects of sin, but Romans 8:20-21 also seems to indicate that all of creation will also be set free.
Romans 8:20-21 “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”
There is an assurance of renewal not only for those who know Jesus but for the whole earth as well.
2 Peter 3:13 “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”
Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,…”
Praise God for the liberation from decay and the hope of new life He paid for through His death and resurrection. Romans 6:6-11 tells me that identification with Jesus’ death leads to being united with Him in His resurrection. Sin does not have to be my master anymore. This Easter is a good time to think about all that was affected by Adam and Eve’s sin, and the amazing gift of Redemption that is available to all.